1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a knowledge base constructing system which a knowledge owner himself or herself having no elementary knowledge for constructing a knowledge base can operate as a knowledge base constructor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A knowledge base is generally one type of computer program which is described in a predetermined knowledge describing language. In constructing the knowledge base, specialized knowledge and experience about the knowledge describing language are required.
A system 509 for constructing a knowledge base 501 has been conventionally operated by a system developer 510 having specialized knowledge and experience about a knowledge describing language, as shown in FIG. 11.
The system developer 510 has an oral interview with a knowledge owner 511 to acquire knowledge from the knowledge owner 511 in constructing a knowledge base. In addition, the system developer 510 systematizes the knowledge acquired from the knowledge owner 511, and operates the knowledge base constructing system 509 to construct the knowledge base 501.
In such a conventional knowledge base constructing method, however, an interview between the system developer 510 and the knowledge owner 511 is orally held, thereby to make it difficult to acquire complete knowledge by holding the interview once. Particularly in constructing a large-scale system, it is impossible to acquire complete knowledge even at an oral interview.
As a result, some problems arise. For example, knowledge must be added or corrected even after the knowledge base 501 is constructed once.
Furthermore, the inventors of the present application have proposed a knowledge base constructing system which a knowledge owner himself or herself can operate as a knowledge base constructor (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 175852/1994).
This system is a knowledge base constructing system 602 in which a knowledge owner himself or herself can easily construct a knowledge base 601 as a knowledge base constructor 608, as shown in FIG. 12. The knowledge base constructing system 602 is constituted by a data base 604, a data converter 603, a hierarchical structure definition device 605, a detailed knowledge definition device 606, and a knowledge reference device 607.
Data having its data structure constituted by a hierarchical structure relating a plurality of nodes to each other and detailed knowledge defined in each of the nodes is stored in the data base 604.
The data converter 603 makes conversion in the language form between a language used in the data base 604 and a knowledge describing language used in the knowledge base 601.
The hierarchical structure definition device 605 is a device for defining a hierarchical structure of knowledge in a simple operation. The detailed knowledge definition device 606 is a device for defining detailed knowledge in a simple operation with respect to each of the nodes in the hierarchical structure defined in the data base 604. The knowledge reference device 607 is a device for referring to knowledge in another node or another knowledge base in defining the detailed knowledge.
The knowledge base constructor 608 makes it possible to easily describe or change the knowledge by operating the hierarchical structure definition device 605, the detailed knowledge definition device 606, and the knowledge reference device 607.
In the above described conventional technique, however, each of the hierarchical structure definition device 605, the detailed knowledge definition device 606 and the knowledge reference device 607 is directly coupled to the data base 604 in the system 602. Accordingly, each of the hierarchical structure definition device 605, the detailed knowledge definition device 606 and the knowledge reference device 607 must have a function of accessing the data base 604, so that the processing load is increased and the construction of the knowledge base constructing system itself becomes complicated.